


Miscommunication

by Izzu



Category: Gintama
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-08 00:57:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/437373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is why you shouldn't jump into conclusions. Some things you need to find out yourself if you wanted to get the facts right! GinXTae. Set post episode 81.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sometimes waiting alone is not enough; you had to find out the truth one way or another!

"Eh... isn't this is... too much?"

Kyuubei just shrugged at the girl who was handling the reception. "It's okay. After all... it's _partially_ my fault so hopefully, _this_ can pay for all of the trouble I've caused."

The girl looked at her in puzzlement as Kyuubei glanced towards the hall.

"And anyway... I also wanted to see by myself."

She smiled as she watched Tae and the others trying to escape from the mobs of alien gorillas. Seriously, was this the kind of life that Tae-chan had chosen for herself?

_But indeed... her place was over there after all!_

"What are you doing there... spacing out? Kyuu-chan!"

Kyuubei snapped out from her reverie as Tae ran towards her, dragging her brother along as well as _another_ young girl. She recalled the young girl being part of the group that stormed the Yagyuu mansion, days earlier. If she remembered correctly, the young girl's name was Kagura.

"Here's not a place to loiter, Kyuu-chan! Run for it!" Tae cried again as she also joined them on their mad dash, almost in an impulse. After they manage to run a distance away leaving the hotel far behind them; suddenly, Tae stopped in her tracks. Causing the rest to follow suit. Kyuubei glanced behind her to see no signs of the gorilla mob on their trail.

"Eh! In all that excitement... we left the others behind!" Kyuubei turned around to see Tae frantically looking around her to look for something. "Those guys! I thought they were right behind us earlier!"

"What—?" Kyuubei started to ask before Shinpachi walked up towards his sister.

"Ah... we shouldn't worry about them. They probably already reaching the Shinsengumi Headquarters by now—", he retorted.

_Ah, was Tae worrying about those Shinsengumi guys?_

Kyuubei stepped back without thinking, as Kagura brushed her aside to join Shinpachi. "Then again..." The young girl gasped as if she just remembered something. Kagura turned around in alarm before slapping Shinpachi's back very hard. "—oi! Gin-chan was also left behind! We forgot him... you idiot!"

Kyuubei just stared silently at them as the trio started fussing over each other. Shinpachi made a face at Kagura. "But Kagura-chan, Gin-san could just easily find his way back easily... don't be so clingy towards him—"

Kyuubei snorted as the two started arguing with each other...

"Ah!"

Kyuubei turned her attention towards Tae as she noticed her friend looking slightly troubled. Just as she was about to ask what was bothering her, Tae suddenly grabbed her hand and placed a stack of keys into her palms. She blinked in surprise.

"Kyuu-chan! Can you take my brother and Kagura-chan to my house? I... had something I forgot to do. I'll see you back at the house, ne!" said Tae as she made a turn and ran towards the opposite direction. Shinpachi called out to her as well, wondering what was wrong but Tae did not pay attention to him as she ran towards the direction they had come earlier.

Kyuubei sighed. What was it that Tae seemed to have forgotten that she needed to go back to that wedding hall? The thought of Tae confronting the gorilla mob by herself almost caused her to want to chase after Tae herself. But wait! She turned around to see Shinpachi and Kagura still arguing loudly.

That reminds her, didn't the girl mentioned about someone being left behind just now? Gin... _Sakata Gintoki, was it?_

She glanced back towards the empty road behind her. Did Tae go back to that place to find that man? Why else would she go back to that place other than that? To see that man called Kondou? No, that can't be it. Tae had told her about the man who had been so infatuated with her to the point of being a stalker, but she kept insisting that she didn't like the man! Crashing the wedding was just her way of paying a favour to the man... so Kondou Isao shouldn't be the reason for Tae to run after them. So... was it really for Sakata—?

_"Everyone... was just trying to protect what they're trying to protect..."_

That man... what was his relationship with Tae? _That_ was the only question that she didn't dare to ask Tae, not that she had any rights to demand any explanations from her. She thought about Tae's crying face from before. Certainly, her tears back then was partially a response to that man's words. Would there be a day when Tae could tell her what that man means to her? Would she be able to accept it, no matter what Tae's answer would mean to her? Kyubei sighed to herself.

_Perhaps, only time will tell._

She turned around towards Shinpachi and Kagura.

"Come on... Shinpachi, Kagura. Let's go home."

xxx

He growled loudly as if trying to show his frustrations openly. Yet the other man showed no concern towards him. Or even _cared_ about his discomfort.

_Man... this is no fun._

" _Danna_ , are you sure you're fine with that?" Sougo spoke up, trying to catch the man's attention. When that didn't work, he started to kick his legs out.

The man let out a soft grunt.

"Don't start complaining now. _You_ were the one asking me to carry you back to your Shinsengumi place—"

"I wasn't talking about _this_ —"

"Ah? Then you were talking about what—"

"It's about Big Sister—"

Immediately, Gintoki stopped paying attention to him up as the man continued walking up towards the Shinsengumi headquarters. Sougo glanced up as he eyed the Vice-Commander and Commander who were walking several feet in front of them.

"Hmmm... and what did you wanna talk about?"

Sougo quickly turned his attention back to him.  

"I just can't agree to what Hijikata-san was saying earlier—"

Gintoki groaned loudly. "On what?"

He chuckled. "On the matter of Big Sister falling in love with Kondou-san... _Danna_ , are you hearing me out here?" he asked before starting to poke Gintoki on his cheeks.

Silence again. He sighed.

"Well, if you ask me... I find it hard to think that's true. Big sister definitely had fallen for someone... but I don't think it's the commander."

Gintoki suddenly laughed loudly.

"What makes you all the wiser? Are you the expert on love now? How'd you know who's the one that tomboy like?"

Okita smirked.

"Of course I know! Even though I am no expert in love but I just knew it. When Big Sister saw us coming to save her, for a brief moment she looked so thrilled—"

"Doesn't mean that you'd know what's her thinking abou—"

Sougo started kicking Gintoki again.

"I'm not finished! As I was saying... when we've finally reached her, I saw her face as she saw us fighting for her sake. When she saw Kondou-san coming, she didn't really look too happy. But there WAS someone else that caught her attention that time! She looked almost as if she wanted to cry..."

Gintoki laughed nervously.

"What were you talking about—? Was it possible that you just imagined seeing it? It might just her getting emotional seeing Shinpachi making a big fuss,"

" _Danna_... don't try to avoid the topic. You noticed it too... didn't you? About Big sister... about who she really might have—"

"—why on earth should I care? And how'd you know so much about it? And why bothered telling me all of this—"

Okita tightened his hold around Gintoki's neck.

"—because I had an older sister too. I saw the same look on Big Sister as the one she wore when looking at the person that she liked. So of course, I knew. When Big Sister saw you... fighting for her sake, she looked as if about to cry..."

xxx

Gintoki groaned as the young man he was carrying on his back started to brush his face on the side of his neck. Why was this kid suddenly started talking about things like love to him anyway? And it's not just about some random girl, it's about Otae!

"What use of you telling me about it? I'm not some guy who had riches or from a good background. Otae-san's better off with someone els—hey, pay attention to what I'm talking here! What're you snickering at?" Gintoki exclaimed as he turned his face to his side to give Okita some scolding.

Yet Okita was staring towards another direction, in front of them. Not even paying attention to him. As Gintoki turned to look, he almost cried aloud when his face nearly collided with Hijikata's back. He growled.

"Hey what're you doing stopping sud—denly... in front of—?"

"Otae-san?" Kondou suddenly called out in a daze.

Otae just gave a nod as she slowly walked up towards them. Gintoki glanced towards Kondou as he noticed that hopeful look written all over his face. And looking at Hijikata also did not help as his presence still annoyed him. Even with his face all wrapped up like a mummy he could sense a smirk coming from under that bandage. Okita started to laugh again as he turned to frown at him.

_Seriously... this was all a misunderstanding! Otae-san wouldn't—though as much as he would have liked it, he wouldn't want Otae to end up with Kondou of all people BUT to hope that, no—she wouldn't have liked HIM of all people. Okita was just playing with his mind... there's still that Hijikata to consider. And god knows what was was it that went on inside that woman's head..._

"I've been looking for you—"

"—Gin-san."

His heart stopped.

Gintoki blinked. No... his ears must have been playing tricks on him. But as he looked back towards the other two men, he saw the disappointed look on the Shinsengumi commander and the mummified face of the vice commander. Therefore, he haven't been hearing things right? But what would that mean? Would this situation ever make any sense to him now?

Another snicker.

"See? I told you. I win," said Okita as he slowly slid down from Gintoki's back. "—and thanks for the piggyback ride. I think I can manage to head home by myself the rest of the way," he said again as he adjusted his hold on his crutch.

Gintoki was about to give him a glare before another outburst from Otae gave him a start.

"Gin-san! What're you still bumbling over there? Kagura-chan, Shin-chan and Kyuu-chan would still be waiting for us back at home!"

"Ye-yeah... err, what? W-what d'you mean—" Gin stuttered as Otae hurriedly dragged him along.

With a short parting call, both of them left the three behind as Okita looked on towards them in satisfaction.

xxx

Hijikata frowned as Kondou went back into a stupor beside him. Sougo grinned as he walked up towards them with a slight swagger.

"It seemed that your assumption was wrong, Hijikata-san."

"Hmph!" he snorted as he blew some smoke into the air. "So what? It doesn't concern me..."

Sougo grinned again.

"It doesn't concern me either... but I'd like to care about it. _Danna_... was after all one of my favourite people after all—"

Hijikata leered towards him before turning to drag the now useless commander back to their quarters.

"Suit yourself," he said before leaving him behind. Sougo shrugged as he also turned to head back towards _home_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up tweaking this part in the end. Heh.


	2. Intermission

*cough*

"Gin-san, what's the meaning of this?"

A young lady took a seat in front of the man as the man proceeds to scratch his head. He turned his attention towards the lady.

"Otae-san... don't you get the memo already? Because of the new movie as well as the recent releases of new season and episodes, one of our fanwriters finally took an action to catch up with the series. And that means the possibility of her finishing some of her old writings that she left unfinished long ago."

Otae let out a soft chuckle. "Ah, really... isn't that a good news?"

Gintoki shook his head. "Not really, if you recall her inconsistent bouts of attention spans. Even now in her long lists of works in progress, our particular writer has a lot of pending works that she needed to finish. It would be too much to hope that she could continue on this line of the track too long to actually complete what she intended to do."

"Ara? But isn't the fact we were having this exchange shows that she really does intend to complete this piece?"

Gintoki shrugged. "Well... it's because she had been having this conversation stuck in her head for days now, was the reason she finally snapped."

"Then, it shouldn't be a problem then?"

He shook his head again. "No, no... you don't get it. Let us recall... how many years since the first chapter of this fic was posted? It's almost ten years now, and do you know how many fics had our writer been posting ever since? Not to mention how her writing style has evolved since her way of thinking would have also taken a lot of evolution. For her to go back to continuing this piece and finish this chapter, it would not have been an easy task. Not to mention she would have lost her old draft after all the life mishaps and bad lucks with computers, getting back on the track would be--just look at her other very old piece for Sai○○○○ when she tried to resume the story? Halfway though a sequel, she realized that some scenes were better written differently and she ended up revising the chapters and ended up rewriting the original multi-chaptered fic. And what happened after? That piece ended up on a hiatus because she had too many things to rewrite and many other things to watch and write for. Asking her to achieve more with just one more chapter of Misco--"

"Gin-chan... are you going to spend the rest of this chapter just trying to explain our writer's situation?"

Gintoki coughed. "W-Well... this chapter was just an intermission, but don't you think that this is something that we should do at least? How would you feel if you were reading HangerXHanger and had to wait for the next chapter for years afterwards because the series had to be postponed for indefinite time and years later it finally returned but then you noticed that the art style and story telling had differed a lot since the last time you were following the series? Culture shock, you see! Even if new readers started taking attention on her old works and were able to read the continuation, they would have noticed the difference! Also, considering that the anime and manga plot had progressed so much since the last time our writer had followed Gintama, certainly that would have affected on how she would want to write this next chapter that she's been meaning to complete!"

Otae laughed. "Well, it's still just one more chapter, isn't it? Miscommunication was originally meant to be a two-chaptered fic from the very beginning... so it shouldn't be too much burden for our writer to carry."

"W-well... Otae-san? You're just saying this because you have a main role in this fic, aren't you? You're just saying this because you love all these attention on you, isn't it?"

A haughty laugh burst out.

"Well, I AM the heroine of Gintama after all. There's no way I would say no for more chapters involving me. And Gin-san... don't you remember all the reviews we used to get? The readers just loved the pairing between us, do you intend to disappoint all of them? They had been waiting for so long for this piece to be completed after all."

He sighed. "As if we don't already have the anime and manga to worry about, now here come all the fanfictions! And it's not like you can just label this chapter as 'Chapter 1.5'! In the end, this fic would still appear to have THREE chapters than the supposed TWO."

"Maa, maa... now don't worry too much about those minor technicalities. At least we'll finally get to finish this fic."

"IT'S NOT LIKE THE NEW DRAFT HAS ALREADY STARTED!" Gintoki hollered, before remembering his manners. "Well, I think we already said enough to cover the explanations. And I think we could also post this notice on ○○ net without breaching the agreement about the no 'Author's note' thing or what was it that used to happen in the past...?"

"Now, now... enough complaining. Don't you think it's a bout time we address the readers now?"

Gintoki snapped his fingers. "Oh yes!" he exclaimed as both of them turned to face the screen.

"Dear readers, considering that all of you had managed to read through all of this without pressing that Esc button... you really have our deepest appreciation."

Both of them bowed.

"THANK YOU, FOR YOUR CONTINOUS SUPPORT!"

Gintoki shrugged. "Our writer would start working on the next chapter soon. Hopefully, it would not be another long wait."


	3. This is why people say you shouldn't overthink things too much—Does it still matter in the end? No, let's just make things simple.

He sneaked another glance towards her, as they made their way through the streets of Kabuki-cho. For some reason, he felt chilly for no reason.  
  
The night was still early, there were still a few bars and shops that were still open. And there were still people walking about, minding their own business. Yet right now, Gintoki felt uncomfortable. As if there was a wall of heavy air surrounding the two of them, making it unbearable to withstand.  
  
_Should I say something?_  he wondered. His thoughts replayed back on the conversation he had with Sougo. Did Otae came looking for him because she  _liked_  him? It couldn't be that, could it? That's ridiculous. How could Otae be liking  _him_ of all people? That would be as ridiculous as her finally accepting and _liking_  Kondou. No matter what pressure Hijikata... or the rest of the Shinsengumi would have thrown at her, there was no way she would start having feelings towards that gorilla stalker. That, would be laughable...  
  
Gintoki frowned. Wait, what was he doing right now? Was he trying to convince herself that the possibility that Otae could ever like  _him_  as a man was close to nil? Was he trying to convince himself that Otae did not have feelings towards him? Why was this line of thinking making it seem that he actually HOPED that Otae DID like him? No, no...! There's no way that  _HE_  actually liked that violent, flat-chested woma—  
  
Well, to be fair... Otae's a pretty lady. Any decent man with a functional joystick down there would be crazy to NOT like her in any way. If not because of that springboard flat—I mean, her  _boorish_  temper and complete lack of cooking skill, he would have happily—No, screw that! Even if Otae was not such a violent woman he couldn't possibly even  _dream_  to have her as his. It wasn't as if he had anything on him that would justify him being together with her. Someone like him...  
  
... wait! Why on earth was he even  _thinking_  about this now? This is all because of that damn Sougo! He was  _overthinking_  this, yes he was! Otae probably only came looking for him because she needed to tell him about the kids. Yes, that should be it!  
  
"Err... umm..."  
  
He glanced towards her again as Otae stared back at him. Without thinking, Gintoki looked away.  
  
"Ah! I guess it was quite late right now...umm, I guess I better get back home. Aha-ha... I better go. Kagura must be wondering where I—"  
  
Just when he thought he could finally escape... Gintoki felt a tug on his sleeve.  
  
"Did you forget already? I mentioned earlier that I told the kids to head to the dojo..."  
  
Ahh... yeah, he forgot that. Totally slipped from his mind.  
  
Gintoki cautiously scanned the area around him. This is bad, people were starting to stare at them! How did this scene look from their point of view? And Otae was being very quiet behind him. Would he dare to look? What was going on inside her head? Come to think, since the incident at the Yagyu residence he hasn't seen or talked to Otae until this day of gorilla wedding. Was she mad at him? But she hasn't even landed any hit on him today—but then it won't make sense. I mean, it's not just a few hours ago that she has happily crashed a gorilla wedding full of gorillas and running around happily as chaos exploded around them. Was she having a mood swing right now? After such high excitement, would she start plunging into another furious explosion of rage? After Kondo... would she direct her attention towards him now? Should he...  
  
"... were you still angry at me, Gin-san?"   
  
Gintoki slowly turned around.  
  
"Eh?"  
  
xxx   
  
Otae felt her cheeks getting warmer. There, she said it aloud. Although... she started regretting her actions as she could feel that they're now attracting the attentions of the people still out on the street at this time. Not just Gin, who was staring back at her right now.   
  
Oh no, she was afraid to turn around. And was she hearing things? She thought she could hear whispers behind her. What should she do? Wha—  
  
As if aware of her concerns, Gintoki grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the streets without a word.  
  
xxx  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
The question popped up suddenly as Otae was taken aback. "Oh... what?" As she raised her head towards Gin, she finally noticed that they've finally left the busier part of Kabuki-cho.   
  
"I'm asking you about what do you mean about me still being mad at you?"   
  
That caught her off guard. She glanced up to see Gintoki scratching his head before pausing, looking as if he just realised something. Gintoki turned towards her. "Are you saying–Were you avoiding me these few days... because you think I'm still _mad_ at you?"  
  
Otae felt her cheeks getting warm. "Ah! What're you talking about, Gin-sa—" she started to say as both of their eyes made contact. Otae hung her head low. "Well actually... yes, you're right. I'm sorry."  
  
She could hear Gintoki sighing loudly.  
  
"Silly girl, I thought I already made it clear to you last time that I'm not blaming anyone for that incident. Then why would I even _stay_ mad at anyone? Or at _you_?"  
  
Otae bit his lips. "You might say that Gin-san... it doesn't change the fact that my actions caused so much trouble for everyone. And you. I—"  
  
Gintoki chuckled. For some reason, the sound he made caused her heart to skip a bit.   
  
"That... you certainly got the blame all right. Because of you, that Mayo-demon became a mummy, Sougo, Kagura, Shinpachi and even _me_ had gotten hurt." Otae flinched as Gintoki made a point to remind her about him getting hurt as well. She thought back on the last battle where Gintoki fought alongside Shinpachi against Kyuubei and her grandfather. Just _recalling_ that memory made her feel guilty again.  
  
"But haven't you done enough to make up for it?" Otae jumped as she glanced back at him to see Gintoki smiling towards her. "You returning home made the kids happy... and you saving that Gorilla made _those_ Shinsengumi guys happy to get their leader back. That should be enough, isn't it?"  
  
That smile made her heart fluttered again, but then she had to remember Gintoki's face right after they concluded the fight that time. Gintoki's face at that time was _devoid_ of emotions, unlike the others who started expressing delights at Shinpachi's last attack. It was so unbearable that she didn't dare to look at him directly in the eye. Gintoki back then had certainly appeared unamused. Even when he already said that time that there was no need for an apology, she still felt that...  
  
"No, there's still one more person that I need to—" Otae started to say as Gin cut her off.  
  
"Oi, oi... don't you start telling me that you felt guilty towards me. I told you before that I didn't come to get you back because of any other personal reasons, so don't think too much about that." Gintoki glanced at her. "Besides, it's not like the two of us made any promises to each other. Not like how you made a promise to that friend of yours. There was never anything of that sort between us... so it's not like you're betraying me or whatever. You don't have to keep being troubled..."  
  
Otae felt her heart drop at those words. "Yes... I guess you're right about that..."  
  
xxx  
  
"But Gin-san, even if you say that... it still doesn't change the fact that what I did, _hurt_ you. I mean..."  
  
"Hey what—" Gin paused as he saw Otae's struggling face. He turned away. "Otae-san... you can't just suddenly say now that you..."  
  
He sighed, before chuckling softly. "It's not as if we could be a good match. And Shinpachi wouldn't have approved of it anyway."   
  
Gintoki shrugged. "Did you know what he said to me before, at the possibility of you having someone that you'd marry? He went 'No, she doesn't have one. I can't allow it!' I don't think he'd like it even better if we actually end up together. Wait... was there a time when I actually  _heard_  him screaming that he didn't want me as a brother-in-law? Or did I just imagined it?"  
  
Otae snorted. Finally. All these tensions had started to get to him if he had to be honest. About time someone started to break away from all of this seriousness!  
  
"That  _does_  sound like how Shinpachi would react. But Gin-san, would you believe it if I did say that I _liked_ you a lot?"  
  
Gintoki immediately turned to stare at her to see if she was trying to make fun of him. But no, Otae didn't look as if she was about to prank him or anything. She looked... _earnest_ somehow. He hastily shook his head.  
  
"Hah!" he started to say. "Well... I wouldn't be surprised, to be honest. That's what you'd expect, being a popular character. And I'm the _main character_ in this after all." Out of habit, Gintoki started to pick on his nose before stopping himself. He turned to glance towards her.   
  
"But are you going to be fine, Otae-san? At this rate, you might end up getting _way_ too _out of character_. I was expecting that you'd start hitting me any moment now for even starting this kind of conversation and in this kind of mood–"  
  
"WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT GIN—" Otae paused just as she was about to slap Gin very hard. Instead, she just gave him a light tap on the back as Gintoki let out a small gasp. Otae finally smiled.   
  
"How could you say that... Gin-san? How could I beat up someone who was badly hurt as you? It's only been several days since, but you haven't recovered yet from your injuries... have you?"  
  
Gintoki rolled his eyes at her. "Heh! If I remember right, you have NO problem beating me up while I was gravely hurt. Like that time after that Nizou slashed me with that monster sword—" he stopped himself before placing his hand over her chest. Gintoki shrugged. "—but yeah, have to admit that I still find it hard to even laugh loudly right now. It's not just because of the earlier gorilla business... that old fart from that Yagyuu household really wasn't going easy on me. But then again, my fault for placing that small plate over my chest of all places..."  
  
GURURURURUUU...  
  
Otae was about to speak when an odd sound suddenly came out. She blinked before noticing that in the faint light of a street light nearby, that Gintoki's cheeks have started to turn red. She chuckled.  
  
"Of all the timing..." Gintoki started to say, "...heh. Then again, I did have nothing but _bananas_ today."  
  
Otae shrugged as she stepped up to grab him by the arm. "So let's go home, there should be something more to eat at my place other than bananas. Well, _at least_ I think I remembered telling Shinpachi and the others to prepare something at home..."  
  
Gintoki snorted.  
  
"Well, enough already with being too chummy with me... Otae- _chan!_ It's weird seeing you act like this. Go back to being normal already, woman!" he exclaimed as Otae continued clinging to his arm.  
  
xxx  
  
"Wait!" Gintoki suddenly exclaimed in horror. "Earlier, you said that Shinpachi and Kagura alongside that Kyuubei were heading to your home, right?"  
  
Otae shrugged offhandedly. "Yeah... why?"   
  
Gintoki frowned.  
  
"What are the odds that Kagura would end up finishing up all of the food in your house all on her own?" he mumbled aloud as Otae tried to brush it off.  
  
"Ara... don't worry about it. Kyuu-chan and Shinpachi were at home too. So they should be able to keep her controlled—oops?" Without warning, Gintoki suddenly carried Otae in his arms as Otae could do nothing but grab on Gin's neck tightly. "Gin-san?"  
  
Gintoki shrugged to himself before he started walking, still with Otae in his arms.  
  
"Don't think too much over this. I'm just doing this because I want to start racing towards your family dojo right after this and having you lagging behind me would be a bother—" He rolled his eyes as he tried to ignore Otae softly teasing him. "Also, let us just remain the way we always have been with each other before. Regardless if you really _do_ like me or just decide to choose me over that Gorilla Kondo or because you had no one else to choose to be with; I'll be here by your side if you want me too. As whatever... _whoever_ you want me to be for you."

He shrugged again. "Also, I'm not doing this just because of you. Regardless if it's because I _also_ liked you back or that I prefer you than some clingy M-woman that occasionally hides in the ceiling of my house or any other reasons besides that; if you want me to stay by your side I'll do that. Whether or not we _actually_ go out together. Let's remain like this."  
  
Otae sighed as she leaned closer to him. "I guess you're right. It's better for us to remain unattached like this."   
  
"Besides... it would spare the both of us plenty of heartbreaks later on, no matter how we ended up later once Gintama ends."  
  
Otae chuckled. "What an idiotic man you are, Gin-san. Though I think _you're_ the one who will cause a lot more heartbreaks rather than me. Even then, we might still end up being together... would you still accept that fate if it happens?"  
  
Gintoki glanced down towards her before grinning. "You're _so_ not quite a cute girl yourself. Well, if _that_  really happens to both of us in the future... I might as well accept my fate regardless. There are other _worse_ fates after all, and ending up with you might not be _too_ bad after all. Are you saying that you don't mind having me as your life partner? Honestly, I don't really mind much having you either–though I have to admit there _might_ be some few _itty bitty_ stuff that _might_ be bad for me if I ever married you–so it can't be too bad. _I mean I had a feeling that Miss Writer knew a bit more than I'm aware of at this point,  so **maybe** ending up with you might not be such a bad idea_."

"Perhaps," Otae started to say, "I have to admit I don't really have much of any other options, now that you mention it. When you consider all of the chapters or episodes we had so far to the point this fanfiction was based on, and _yeah... I also felt that Miss Writer also knew that I don't really have that much option when it comes to love interests in this series._ But I guess, I'll be fine if this was meant to be. Even if it meant that I have to put up with you constantly getting yourself hurt. Or seeing you getting involved with many _more_ female characters that would inevitably fall for you."

He smirked. "Now that we already left that said, let's go home since I'm still starving."  
  
Otae smiled. "Don't push yourself too much... didn't you say your chest still _hurt_ earlier?"  
  
"Don't you look down on me. FOR THE SAKE OF RICE!" Gintoki screamed as he started racing to reach the dojo in time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Afterwords, because I felt that I need to put this here.
> 
> I manage to write up most of the stuff I planned for this chapter as I would have wanted to when I first started writing the first chapter. Well, it wasn't exactly like this... but close enough. But then ending the chapter was another hurdle but I hope people would be okay with this one that I come up with. Since even in the latter/recent chapters/episodes Otae did still appear to be most comfortable with Gin compared to any other characters. Like if she had to choose. Gintoki too actually, but I guess it does get tricky later on what with the addition of Kyuubei and Tsukuyo getting into the mix. Ah well, I still feel that the series still leans to this pair as the main ship. So there's that I guess.


End file.
